Welcome to Costa Rican Spanish, the blog for Spanish language enthusiasts who want to know the subtleties of Spanish in Costa Rica. I am a Spanish speaker and teacher who grew up in the United States. After moving to Costa Rica, I realized that Spanish in Costa Rica, especially in rural areas, is quite distinct from Spanish I've encountered in other Latin American countries.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

In Costa Rica, Nicaraguan is almost always said "nica". The word can be both masculine and feminine, depending--of course--on the situation. Although experience in Costa Rica might sometimes indicate otherwise, nica is not necessarily a racial slur. Unfortunately, Costa Ricans often speak disparagingly of their Central American neighbors, so the term (nica) is often used in an unflattering way.

Although I hesitate to weigh in on relations between Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans, a topic that deserves much more attention than a blog entry, I will say that Nicaraguans are often treated unfairly in Costa Rica and are used as a scapegoat for social ills that Costa Rican society as a whole is reluctant to own up to. (Perhaps it's important to note here that an estimated one million+ Nicaraguans are thought to reside in Costa Rica)

Thursday, December 27, 2007

On a few occasions in rural Costa Rica, I heard people referring to a homosexual as homosensual, instead of the standard homosexual. Aside from finding this very amusing, I also thought it a more flattering term. "I'm not a homosexual; I'm a homosensual," someone might say in English. I love it.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Rural Costa Ricans say leche de vaca to distinguish farm-fresh milk from powdered milk. The first time I heard this I thought "why the hell would you have to say that it's cow milk?" It didn't help matters that the woman who first offered me leche de vaca had recently had a baby. Wow, awkward.

To be abundantly clear, Costa Ricans (adults) only drink milk from cows.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

In Costa Rica you might hear más bueno, más malo, más mejor, and más peor (often pronounced pior). Yes, these are all incorrect superlatives, but they are quite common in Costa Rica. To all you impressionable kids out there, stick to mejor and peor when trying to saying better or best, and worse or worst, respectively.

Costa Ricans rarely ask "¿cuánto cuesta?" to figure out how much something costs. They most often ask "¿cuánto vale?" I was extremely sensitive to this because of my interest in business and economics. Why should the seller alone determine what something is worth? (The seller can determine price, but not worth) I find it odd that someone would ask a stranger what value he would enjoy from buying something. I also find it strange that when bargaining with a seller, that seller will insist that something is worth more than what I'm willing to pay. Well, I understand that sometimes the buyer can be unreasonable in his offer, but in my experience Costa Ricans and gringos alike will overpay for something because they are too concerned with respecting what something vale. Similarly, they are also far too impressed with themselves when they get something for less than what it vale.

Anyway, Costa Ricans would do well to figure out that the price someone wants to charge often has very little to do with actual value. I would say the same thing goes for tourists in Costa Rica, but I think tourists who haggle too much end up being bitter about their vacations. (Yes, people try to make money off of rich gringos--deal with it)

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Costa Ricans use diminutive suffixes heavily in their daily lives. Although some of these suffixes, such as -illo, can be derogatory, in Costa Rica they are usually employed to place emphasis on the noun or adjective to which it's attached. Also, Costa Ricans are usually mild-mannered people and will go to great lengths to avoid verbal conflict.

With that said, Costa Ricans do sometimes use derogatory suffixes to express dissatisfaction with something. For example, a Costa Rican might refer to a group of people as 'esa gentuza', meaning 'those trashy people'. Another suffix is -ucho, which has a similarly negative connotation. "Vamos para Cartucho", as someone might say, lamenting a trip to the city of Cartago. (Just for the record, I have nothing against Cartago--it's lovely)

Thursday, December 20, 2007

If you go to Costa Rica and want to order a ginger ale, do it like this:

"Regáleme una gin"

Gin is pronounced like the English "jean". It is feminine in this case because it is una bebida gaseosa, just like una Pilsen or una Imperial, the two most popular beers in Costa Rica, are feminine because they are cervezas.

If you say cerveza de jengibre, the waitress probably won't understand you.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Vos, as one might expect, is essentially the singular version of vosotros, only that it's used for the most part in Latin America (although not everywhere in Latin America). Although still not quite as accepted in formal language, vos is becoming increasingly prevalent in everyday language in many different countries.

The conjugation of vos is very similar to the conjugation of vosotros as well. Here are the few minor differences:

Verb=pagarVosotros pagáisVos pagás

Verb=tenerVosotros tenéisVos tenés

Verb=decirVosotros decéisVos decís

Now that you see a few examples, I'll point out the basic rules for regular verbs. First of all, for -ar verbs, take the vosotros form and take out the 'i'. Yup, that's it! Just remember that the accent goes on the last syllable.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Costa Rica has two main ways to say 'you'. The most common one is Ud. (Usted). Many guidebooks will tell you to use tú. Don't believe them. They only say that because they don't take the time to put in research for each country they cover. Lonely Planet, for example, publishes a book on Costa Rica whose language section is similar to that of Spanish language sections in other guidebooks.

As a blogger on regional dialects and varieties of Spanish, this does not make me happy. Then again, if Lonely Planet did have the resources to pay attention to these details (this "detail" is actually pretty important) what would do with my time?

Anyway, the second most popular second person singular pronoun is vos. This pronoun is used in Costa Rica just as it's used in Argentina (although not quite as prevalently). Vos only a few decades back had been the most common everyday pronoun for 'you', but has recently given up ground to Ud.

Please note that Costa Ricans hardly ever use tú. It is said that tú is to be used with your lover and with God. It won't be a big deal if you use it as a tourist, but if you want to fit in with the locals, just use Ud. If you get really ambitious, you can use vos.

I'll write a lesson on vos conjugations soon. If I get ambitious, I'll also speak to the history of vos as a pronoun.

While I only use costarricense myself, a less common(yet still existent, term for Costa Rican is costarriqueño. This word likely comes from an erroneous association with the word puertorriqueño, the Spanish word for Puerto Rican.

Someone recently e-mailed the website about this issue because I put costarriqueño in the "tags*" section for the dictionary entry for tico, which also means Costa Rican. I put it with the tags because it is not the standard accepted usage, but it is used. So, if someone searched for costarriqueño, she will find my entry for costarricense and learn the proper way.

*-Tags are short bits of text separated by commas that list the words associated with a particular topic.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

'Suave', normally meaning smooth in Spanish is often employed in Costa Rica to mean 'slow down'. You'll often hear this on a bus when the bus driver misses someone's stop. "Suave, mae", someone from the back entrance might yell.

This is a letter (the 'rr' or 'r-') that throws foreigners through a loop, especially if they're Spanish speakers. The Costa Rican double 'r' is indeed closer to the English 'r' than to the traditional "rolled" double 'r' in Spanish. A visitor to my Costa Rican dictionary site recently pointed out that in her phonetics studies in the lab that the Costa Rican 'rr' is closer to a fricative like in the French 'jour' than it is to the English 'r'. I, however, think it is somewhere between the two sounds, depending on who's saying it. It really does vary from one person to another and from one region to another.

I invite any comments concerning the subject. What does the 'rr' sound like to you? I welcome any answers, no matter how technical (or non-technical).

Someone recently asked me a question about addresses in Costa Rica. This is a theme that pops a lot with foreigners trying to make sense of mail in Costa Rica.

The question was about the word 'Apartado'. In the following address example, think of it as a PO Box number that you'd see in the US:

John Q. AppleseedApartado Postal 34-1000San JoséCosta Rica

This would be the post office box number (address, although not a physical one) for Mr. Appleseed. The 34 is the number of his box and 1000 is the code for the post office in San José. This last number is the only thing used in Costa Rica that resembles a zip code.

Keep in mind, though, that Costa Ricans don't actually have physical addresses with street numbers and the like. The following is an example that you'd likely see in a small Costa Rican town:

This is no joke. Costa Ricans simply describe the location of the residence or business with respect to nearby landmarks. This example would be for Juan Semillero, who lives 50 meters north of the Catholic Church in the town of Santa Fe, which is in the canton of Guatuso, in the province of Alajuela, and (obviously) in the country of Costa Rica. It's pretty wild, I know, and even after two years I never got used to it. People could never agree on the exact distances between two points, and often couldn't even agree on the basic cardinal directions!

Some may find this hard to believe, but take my word for it--Costa Ricans don't use addresses. Yet another thing that makes this place unique.

Welcome to the Costa Rican Spanish blog! I have already created a dictionary of Costa Rican Spanish words and expressions, but I will keep the blog updated with new findings as people bring to my attention other nuances of Costa Rican language. In the meantime, peruse my dictionaryand contact me with any questions you might have.

Learn the Spanish of Costa Rica

What is your favorite Costa Rican Spanish word or expression?

Costa Rica

These are some photogenic chanchitos on my farm. In Costa Rica, 'chanchos' can also refer to 'las nalgas' of a woman. I once asked someone why this is and he responded, "porque los alimentan con plátanos." Let me know if you can figure that one out. ;)

Costa Rica

Have you ever seen two rainbows at once? Well, you betta go yoself to Costa Rica, because I've seen this twice thanks to the país muy chiquitico. This picture was taken from a car in the province of Guanacaste.

Costa Rica

This is a young Guanacaste tree in the tree nursery of the Santa Fe Women's Group. The Guanacaste, a tree that spreads out wider several times more than it does tall, is Costa Rica's national tree. Even though these trees are quite beautiful, farmers often chop them down because they take up too much space on the farm and limit the amount of open grazing area. Nonetheless, Costa Rican cattle farmers usually keep at least one of these trees on any large farm.

Costa Rica

This is Rio Celeste (Light Blue River), one of Costa Rica's finest natural wonders. The minerals from the Tenorio Volcano rise up to mix with the water and turn it blue. The spot where this chemical reaction takes place is called "los teñideros", literally "the dyers" in English. On a trip to Rio Celeste you can also hike to one of Costa Rica's finest waterfalls.

Costa Rica

This is the Arenal Volcano, Central America's most active volcano. It's conical perfection is quite breathtaking and its numerous hot springs baths are very relaxing.

Costa Rica

These are fence posts made of tree branches. These branches continue to grow after they're planted into the ground. In rural Costa Rica this is a very common practice, as regular lumber and cement are hard to come by.

Costa Rica

This is a pony (portranco) running with his mother (female horse is yegua).

Costa Rica

This is doña Felipa, the old lady in Caño Ciego de los Chiles who is pushing 100 years old. (She can't say for sure how old she is.) She walks several kilometers each day between different rural towns. She even takes to the fields to 'volar machete' when she has to. She can't weigh any more than 60 lbs., but she's one tough lady.

Costa Rica

Flor de la granda, the flower of that blossoms from the granada plant, from which hangs a huge, soft fruit. It's the shape of a watermelon and the size of a canteloupe.

Costa Rica

This is a cow in rural Costa Rica. To get a cow to move in Costa Rica, you yell "aca!" It's just like 'vaca' without the 'v'.